Kustbandet has been around for more than 50 years.
They started in 1962 as a seven piece New Orleans jazz group but soon moved on to become a small big band with a repertoire from the 1920s and 1930s inspired by early hot and swing bands lead by jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Duke Ellington or Count Basie
“It is one of the most authentic jazz bands in this category” according to jazz historian and producer Frans Sjöström’s cover notes for Kustbandet’s CD ”The Man From Harlem”.
Over the years jazz legends like Benny Carter, Benny Waters, Maxine Sullivan, Wild Bill Davison and Doc Cheatham have performed and recorded with the band.
Kustbandet have toured extensively in Sweden as well as the rest of the world.
Duke Ellington is featured prominently in the repertoire of Kustbandet and he is well represented in Kustbandet’s concerts and records (like Cotton Club Stomp from 1986).
This will also be the case at Kustbandet’s concert in Stockholm on October 9, 2016. The concert is part of the Stockholm Jazz Festival in co-arrangement with Duke Ellington Society of Sweden.